


amore mio aiutami

by skai_heda



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, But it kinda is, Character Study, F/M, Friends to Lovers, beach town setting, i didn't mean for this to be like cmbyn oops, ish, setting wise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-12 11:55:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28635105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skai_heda/pseuds/skai_heda
Summary: he meets a girl leaning against a grey brick wall facing the sea, with a magazine in one hand and an unlit cigarette in another.
Relationships: Aang & Toph Beifong & Katara & Sokka & Suki & Zuko, Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Suki & Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 36





	amore mio aiutami

**Author's Note:**

> title from a beautiful piece of the same name
> 
> no beta forgive me

Summer nights in the small town of Caldera, Italy are milder than one would assume—the sea softens the blistering heat that tears at the rows of candy colored houses overlooking the coast. The coastal town isn't different. It lives in Zuko's memory like a brand burned into the inside of his brain, a sweet and nostalgic warmth. 

He goes every summer. He knows what to expect. It is one of the few things that give him joy, the four hour drive from his hometown to the dainty settlement nestled in coastal cliffs. His mother is long gone, his sister too uninterested in family, and his father too caught up in work, so since last year, he has made the journey alone. Hours of silence or music in the car his mother had once driven.

Zuko knows the people in the town well. Suki, who was his age, he had known since childhood, having met her on one of his first trips to Caldera, back when his entire family had been present. They'd become good friends quickly—and with every conclusion to his summer in the town, she'd hand him a jasmine blossom and say _I'll see you next year._ And she had, and the years after that as well.

He'd met Aang two years prior, when he was fifteen and the latter was thirteen. The last time Zuko had come to Caldera with his father present. Zuko and Aang didn't like each other at first—he'd initially seen the young boy as an annoying presence that perpetuated the one and only library in the town. But they had become good friends as well—in the dark wood and in between shared books and and towering shelves and small meaningless debates, how could they not?

Toph was Zuko's latest acquaintance, Aang's age and a small, blind girl who was one of Suki's students at the martial arts school. Quick on her feet and with her words, his immediate admiration for her eroded into friendship. And so there was their little group—Zuko often felt rather lonely as the only person who did not live in Caldera, but he always looked forward to the summers spent roaming the familiar streets in between tightly packed houses.

Zuko's birthday is at the beginning of each trip to Caldera, so he finds himself wandering to their family home (now belonging to his Uncle Iroh, who lives full time in Caldera), with the taste of the cake Suki and Aang had baked for him still in his mouth. Alone on the streets of Caldera, with the sea breeze ruffling his hair and the streetlamps minutes from shutting off, he feels happier than he has in a long time.

* * *

The girl—the _woman—_ is different. She's got rich dark skin with dusty rose spots dancing high on her cheekbones from the heat. Her hair, a million shades of brown in the relentless sunlight, is pulled back, exposing the long column of her neck and the small blue jewel sitting at the base of her throat. She leans against the grey brick walls that are as old as time, with a magazine in one hand and an unlit cigarette in between her long, seemingly delicate fingers, and Zuko wonders whether she's old enough to even be smoking—she seems to be around his age.

The girl's absorbed in the view of the ocean from here, barely even glancing at him as he walks past her. 

She's not supposed to be here—Zuko knows that much. Caldera's a small town, and he's been here enough times to know about nearly everyone here. Maybe not personally, but they're all recognizable. Aang and Toph had been the last new ones in town... and now her.

He realizes that his eyes have been following her, and he's nearly walking backwards now in his desire to keep his gaze trained on the girl. By some miracle, she does not seem to notice. And if she does, perhaps she is nice enough to not say anything about it. 

"What's with the walk?" Zuko hears someone say, just as he walks backward into a person. Turning as his ears begin to feel warm, he sees Suki staring up at him with a confused look. "What?"

"There's a girl," he says simply.

"Yeah, there are girls everywhere in this town," she says, adjusting the strap of the sage green sundress she wears. "One of them finally catch your eye?"

Zuko scowls at her, rubbing the scar around one of his eyes reproachfully. "Maybe."

"That's a yes," Suki mutters, leaning against a nearby lamppost. "You can't even put together more than two syllables."

"Yes, I can," he replies.

"Okay, three," she mutters. "Splendid, right?" 

"Right," he replies. "I think she's new here. Moved or visiting, because I don't recognize her."

"Well, imagine if you fall in love with her and then it turns out she was just on vacation here," Suki says with a slightly malicious grin. "That would certainly be a crying shame, wouldn't it?"

"You're evil," he declares, rubbing the back of his neck. "Besides, I'm also on vacation." Impulsively, he looks back in the direction of the girl, but it appears she's no longer at the wall. 

"Well, yeah, so it would be worse because you two are going to your separate places— _what_ are you looking for?" Suki asks, standing on her toes to look where he's looking.

"None of your business," Zuko replies, putting his palm on her forehead and pushing her face away.

"What, so I can't see the hot girl? I thought you were generous, Zuko," she states with a dramatic sigh, before scuffing her shoe against the ground. "Hey, maybe this was your birthday present!"

"My birthday was yesterday," Zuko remarks.

"Well, I know _that,_ idiot, but maybe she got here yesterday! Oh, look at you," Suki sighs with a grin. "Freshly seventeen and ready to fall in _looooove—"_

"Okay, okay," he says, raising his hands with a small giggle bubbling from his lips. "I saw her like, once! I'm not going to fall in love already."

"Yeah, but you're interested," Suki says, as they begin to walk towards the town square. "Besides, Caldera is the size of my hand. You'll definitely see her again."

"Definitely."

"Uh huh. You wanna have lunch with the others today?"

"Sure," he says. 

"Great. We're all going to the Jasmine Dragon, then. It's been a million years since we had your uncle's cooking!" Suki exclaims, bumping her shoulder into his arm. 

"I have it every day!" Zuko whines, but even that would not be enough to pass up an opportunity to eat at his uncle's restaurant.

Toph and Aang are already sitting at their table outside when Zuko and Suki arrive, with Aang explaining some dish on the menu to Toph while she listens with her chin in her hands. 

"What are you explaining the menu for?" Zuko asks, pulling out Suki's chair and then his own. "You guys have eaten here a million times."

"Yeah, but Uncle Iroh added a special," Aang explains, holding up his menu. "Some new dish called _The Prince's Choice—"_

"Really?" Zuko exclaims, looking up with a smile coming to his face.

"Really," he hears his uncle say from behind him, and feels a warm hand on his back. "I must have my nephew's favorite dish to celebrate his return to the town, right?"

"Wait, is that the one your uncle makes at home when we get back from the beach?" Suki asks, her eyes also lighting up.

"Hell yeah," Zuko answers, flicking her knuckles. "The very same."

"Does that make _you_ the prince?" Toph asks with a snicker as she idly fiddles with her chopsticks.

He makes a face at her even though she can't see it, and then turns back to Uncle Iroh. "I will definitely be having that."

"Me, too," Suki adds.

"Same," Aang and Toph say in unison.

Iroh lets out a satisfied laugh. "Alright. I'll be out with that soon."

He goes back into the restaurant, and Aang leans back in his seat. "Lotta people coming here for vacation this year. Besides Zuko, I mean."

Zuko looks up. "Have you seen any of them?" 

In her seat, Suki tries and fails to hide a smirk.

"I have, actually," Aang replies cheerfully, joining Toph in her efforts to pick up the salt shaker with her chopsticks. "They're siblings—brother and sister."

"Oh," Zuko says, trying to make his voice sound even and slightly disinterested. "What do they look like?"

At this, Aang gives him an odd look. "I mean, I only saw them for a little bit when they came into the library while I was helping. They're near our age, I think. The girl's pretty."

"Of course you only noticed that," Toph says with a snort, her fingers gripping her chopsticks tightly as she and Aang slowly lift the salt shaker. "Steady, steady stead—"

Suki turns her head and lowers her voice. "Think that might be the girl?"

Zuko straightens. "What? No! That's ridiculous. It would have to be a _major_ coincidence if that was even possible and—"

"You can just say yes," Suki says.

He rolls his eyes. "Yes."

"You're dumb," she proclaims tersely.

"We already know this, Suki," Zuko mutters. "We already know."

* * *

He heads for the library in the evening, intending to make the most out of his summer of freedom. It's mostly empty, but he knows Aang will be there, helping to organize the old and perpetually dusty volumes. Zuko begins to walk towards the back, heading for the familiar silhouette of Aang once he spots him.

He isn't expecting the girl to be there, sitting on the table with a book open on her lap. 

"Is that the one you were looking f—oh, hi, Zuko!" Aang says cheerfully. "This is one of the people I was talking about before. This is Katara."

The girl looks up, and Zuko sees that her eyes are an alarmingly sharp shade of blue. "I've seen you here before. Just this morning."

"Yeah," he says, swallowing. "I'm Zuko."

"I'm Katara," she answers, then smiles slightly. "Aang already said that."

"I—"

"Katara moved here, did you know?" Aang says brightly, carefully putting a book back in its place, before turning to smile indulgently at her. "You're going to love it here."

"That's what everyone says," Katara replies, sobering slightly, and Zuko watches the way her fingers carefully brush the spine of the book she's holding. "People tell me that moving to a small coastal town in Italy is a dream, but I just worry that it'll be underwhelming here."

"Make sense," Zuko says. "But—"

"Where did you move from?" Aang asks.

Katara lets out a derogatory huff of laughter. "United States. Washington state."

"Oh," Aang says. "Well, I think you'll like this place better."

"Maybe," she replies, putting her book down on the desk. "I've been here like once last year before when Dad was showing us where we were going to live, but I'm afraid I don't know where anything is."

"I could show you," Zuko blurts, then curses himself for sounding so eager. "If you want."

Aang scowls at him from behind a book, but doesn't look too bothered.

"Sure," Katara says, her voice slightly bored. "Lead the way."

"Of course," Zuko murmurs, and walks out of the library with a final farewell to Aang. The streetlamps are coming on as he and Katara emerge onto the street, and they begin to walk. "I have a question," he says.

"So ask."

He looks sideways at her. "Do you smoke?"

"No." She looks up at him with a small smile. "What makes you ask that?"

Zuko shrugs. "You had a cigarette in your hand this morning but it wasn't lit, so I was just wondering."

Katara looks out to the sea, where the sun is just beginning to touch the horizon. "Ask me why I'm here. Ask me why I moved here."

He rubs the back of his neck. "I don't want to pry."

"Nice of you, but ask. I'll answer."

Zuko puts his hands in his pockets. "Okay, why did you move here?"

Katara sighs. "My mom grew up here. Her parents were doctors from Alaska, if you can believe it, and they brought her here." She looks up. "She, um, she died a few years ago, and my dad thinks that being in the place where she grew up can somehow replace her—replace a motherly presence, I guess." Katara laughs softly. "I was being kind of stupid this morning. Dad tells me that she used to stand by that specific wall for hours and hours with a magazine and a cigarette. It's the only part of the town I know, so I went there and I did it. I don't really know what I was thinking, to be honest. Maybe that I would somehow channel her spirit or something."

"That is kind of stupid," Zuko admits with a small laugh of his own.

"Yeah, isn't it?" Her smile seems wider and more genuine.

"So, did it happen?"

She shakes her head. "Nope. No ghost mother today."

Impulsively, Zuko touches her shoulder. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's okay. It's not like I was expecting it to work."

"Right," he murmurs. They continue on a fairly brief tour of the town, and at last, he's standing in front of Katara's house. "You should have dinner with us," he says suddenly. "If you want."

"Who's 'us'?"

"Me and my friends. Aang, that kid working in the library—and Toph, and Suki..."

* * *

"Now _what_ are _you_ doing here?" Katara asks disdainfully of the boy sitting next to Suki once they get to the restaurant.

"Having dinner," he responds. He shares many of his features with Katara, and dark hair falling to his jaw that frames his face. He sits close to Suki, who has her chin in her hands and a smile on her face. Zuko raises an eyebrow once she looks up at him, and she responds with a warning scowl.

Katara huffs. "Zuko, this is my brother, Sokka."

"Hi!" Sokka says brightly. He seems friendlier than Katara, to be honest, and Katara's really friendly.

"Hey," Zuko says, pulling out a chair for Katara. "How are you guys liking it here?"'

"It's nice," Katara says, looking sideways at him. "Your tour was nice."

"Funny, I was also giving Sokka a tour," Suki adds. 

"Of what, your mouth?" Zuko answers.

Sokka chokes on the water he's drinking, and Suki pats him affectionately on the back. "No, not yet."

"You're making it worse," Aang mutters. "He'll die."

Sokka clears his throat loudly. "I'm fine! I'm good." 

Suki kicks Zuko hard in the shin under the table, and he bites his lip to avoid making a noise.

"Stop playing footsie under the table," Toph says sharply.

"Who's playing footsie?" Aang blurts, alarmed.

"No one," Zuko answers loudly. "Let's just order."

"I can't read Italian," Katara mutters.

"I'll translate," Zuko says softly. "Good thing we all speak English, huh?"

"Yeah," she murmurs, and sits back as Zuko softly tells her all the menu items. After choosing what she wants, she puts her chin in her hands. "So... have you lived in Caldera your whole life?"

"I don't live here at all, actually," he tells her. "I only come here during the summer and I live with my uncle Iroh. He lives here, and he owns The Jasmine Dragon. Normally I live a four hour drive away." He reaches forward for his water and stirs it with his straw. "I moved to Italy when I was seven. I was born in Japan, and lived in California until I came here."

"Ooh, California," Katara says with a smile. A waiter comes to take their orders, and she turns back to him when they're done. "Do you miss it?"

Zuko shrugs. "Don't remember enough to decide."

Katara lays her palms flat on the table. "I miss Washington, kinda. Miserable and rainy place," she adds. "But beautiful."

"It's always hard moving," Zuko says. "I barely remember when I moved but I know it sucked."

"I just hope it'll be worth it," Katara replies, her voice softening.

Zuko looks at her closely, for the first time since they met. "Me, too," he says.

* * *

He takes her down to the beach a week later, watches her giggle and inhale the fresh air. It's one of the less popular beaches, and they're both happy about the emptiness. She's running along the wet sand in her flip-flops with her hair flying behind her, calling for Zuko to join her. 

There's a moment where a particularly strong wave comes, reaching her knees and sweeping away one of her flip-flops. So she runs right into the ocean, shorts and tank top and all, and emerges from the water with a smile on her face and the flip-flop dangling from her fingers. "Jesus, that's cold," she says with a laugh, taking off her other shoe and tossing it back towards the dry sand. 

"You get used to it," Zuko says. "Thought you were going to drown for a second!"

"Are you kidding? I'm a god in the water," she proclaims, before wrapping her arms around herself. 

"Here, rub your hands together," Zuko tells her, holding up his own hands to demonstrate. "Make them hot then put them on your face. You'll feel better."

"And what about the rest of me, genius?" she asks.

"If your face feels hot then your body will be tricked into believing that it's warm, too. Always works."

"Weird," she mutters, but she does it anyway. Katara looks up at him with her hands on her cheeks. "Okay, that kind of works."

"It _definitely_ works," he protests.

"Sort of."

He shoves her shoulder gently, causing her to push him dangerously close to the water. "Don't, _don't—"_

* * *

They sit in the library a lot. The six friends spend a lot of time together, but Zuko and Katara spend a lot of time together as well, without the others. He likes to tell her his favorite lines while they're reading—he just can't help himself. Sometimes she's annoyed by it when she's at a particularly intriguing part of her own book, but most of the time she smiles and tells him one of her own favorite lines. 

Zuko's fine with either. He just likes that she even listens at all.

* * *

On the days right before it rains, Zuko and Katara head down to the beach wrapped in their sweatshirts and long pants, hours spent sitting on the towels that they lay out on the dry sand. The ocean turns metallic grey on those days—Zuko won't admit it, but he likes that better than the way it normally looks. Something about the comforting emptiness.

And her, of course. Sometimes she reads, sometimes she talks, and sometimes she sits with her back against his and watches the waves.

"It kind of reminds me of Washington," she says one day. "But with better weather." The sea breeze lifts a strand of her hair high enough for it to brush Zuko's cheek, and he wants to kiss her, unable to care about the water that would surely soak their shoes if they stayed there for too long.

* * *

The realization that he's in love with Katara is a slow one, like honey washing over him, like the sun sinking into the horizon. He knows for sure about a month after her arrival, and with him entering the second half of his stay here.

Zuko thinks about telling her sometimes, but the idea never lasts. After all, he'll be gone in a matter of weeks.

But he will come back. Won't he?

Of course he will. He'll always come back.

* * *

They're on a walk alone through the main streets after the streetlamps have gone on, a little closer than usual, fingers about to brush. He could never recall feeling so happy, so peaceful, so alive.

At some point, Katara moves her hand to wrap her fingers around his. They don't talk about it—they don't have to.

* * *

"You know how I was worried, before? That moving here would be a disappointment, that it wouldn't be worth it?" The side of Katara's hand is pressed against her forehead, shielding her eyes from the endless light. A cloud passes over the sun, and she lowers her hand while turning to Zuko.

"I remember," he answers, getting to his feet, feeling the warm sand between his toes. "Why?"

They're close—too close, not close enough. The cloud moves away from the sun, but Katara doesn't bother to hide her face from the light anymore. 

"I just think it's worth it now," she says softly. "I think I'm happy here."

He cups her jaw with his hands, wondering for a moment whether his callouses will bother her soft skin. But her shoulders relax, and when he lowers his head to kiss her, it's like tasting the sun itself.

* * *

Zuko's lying in her bed a couple of days later, his head on his arm and a book lying open and facedown on his stomach. He wants to say something about how he's going to leave in a week and a half—surely he should, right? Katara has known to some degree that he would leave at the end of the summer, but they never really talked about when.

He wants to. God, he wants to. It would ruin the perfect, shining moment that they have right now, in this beautiful room with greyish blue walls and glass bookshelves and open windows, but they can't ignore it forever. 

It wouldn't be fair to her to leave with a last-minute warming. It would break her, break him, break them. He has to open his mouth, he has to be honest. He has to tell her that it'll come to an end and he doesn't know what to do after that.

Katara, who is sitting cross-legged on the bed next to him, taps his shoulder and shows him the page of her book, speaking in soft tones about the characters and the situation. Her voice intoxicates him once again, and Zuko finds himself forgetting what it was that he was so worried about.

* * *

The rain is coming down especially hard today.

Zuko walks through down, obnoxiously bright red and blue umbrella in hand. He likes rainy days, likes being in the library with the sound of raindrops the only thing keeping him company. 

"You didn't tell me."

He turns.

Droplets of water run down Katara's strong, beautiful features, outline her expression of disappointed anger. He doesn't have to ask what he's talking about—he already knows.

"I was going to."

"When?" Katara asks. Zuko wants to reach out and pull up the hood of her dark blue jacket so that the water doesn't soak into her hair and get her sick, but he's frozen. The beautiful sense of peace that he's built up with her seems to be falling to pieces, all of his regret and omission of truth finally catching up to him. "When were you going to tell me, Zuko? The day before you left?"

"I'm sorry," he says, swallowing. "Katara, I wanted to tell you. But everything was going so well and I didn't want to ruin it with a deadline—"

"It would've all meant that much more to me if I knew it was going to end," she says softly.

"It doesn't have to end, Katara! I'm only—"

"A four hour drive away," she finishes, sighing. "It's more than you think."

"Wasn't that best, though?" he asks. "When you thought it would last forever so you didn't force yourself to try and enjoy it more than you wanted to?"

"This is _not_ about enjoyment, Zuko," Katara says, her voice suddenly hurt. 

"So what _is_ it about, huh?"

She takes a step closer to him, raindrops on her eyelashes. "I don't know how you do it," she says softly, her eyes steely with anger and something else that he can't name. "I don't know how you look at me every single day, how you speak to me, how you see the way I look at you, without knowing..."

"Without knowing _what?"_ He can feel her breath on his lips.

"Without knowing that I love you."

He steps back. "Katara."

She looks suddenly terrified. "What, was this some summer fling to you?"

"No, of course it wasn't," Zuko declares quickly, reaching for her shoulders. "Katara. Look at me."

"If it wasn't more than that to you," Katara says. "Tell me right now. Tell me right now and we can forget it and be friends and see each other every summer and act like this was just some stupid, temporary thing—"

And then he's kissing her, and it feels so much more wonderful than it ever has before. Zuko wishes he wasn't holding his umbrella in one hand so that he could hold her with both hands, let her presence surround him. 

"I love you," he says, and he smiles. It feels so right, so wonderful to be saying that. "I love you."

Katara pulls away. "So what now? What happens after you leave?"

He leans down to put his head against hers. 

"We'll figure it out," he tells her.

* * *

"Hey, did you— _ew!"_ Zuko exclaims, alarmed to find Sokka pushing Suki against Zuko's car while they kiss. "Can you _not?"_

Suki pulls away from Sokka. "My bad. "Couldn't find any other place."

Zuko rolls his eyes. "Get away from my car. I don't want you defiling it anymore."

"We weren't defiling it," Sokka argues, then smirks. "Yet."

Suki snickers and gives Sokka a high-five.

"You guys are _disgusting._ Hi, Katara," Zuko says, pulling her into a long kiss. He hears Suki make a noise of disbelief and Sokka begin to protest, so he pulls away with a smile.

"Hey," Katara says, before reaching over to yank her brother's ear hard. Toph and Aang walk into the garage, grinning. "Hi, Zuko," they in unison.

"'Sup," he says, taking the box in Katara's hands from her and putting it in the backseat of his car. 

"What's that?" Sokka asks, raising an eyebrow in suspicion.

"None of your business," Katara says, leaning heavily against Zuko. "I'll miss you."

"Us, too," the others say.

"I almost forgot!" Suki exclaims, running outside before coming back into the garage with the stem of a jasmine flower in her hand. "Here."

"Can't ignore tradition," Zuko says softly, reaching forward to pull Suki into a hug. She slaps him on the back unreasonably hard a few times before stepping back with a grin. 

"Good luck back home," she says.

He raises his fingers in salute before pulling Sokka into a long hug, and then Aang and Toph. "I'll miss you guys."

"You'll be back soon enough," Sokka says with a grin, reaching out to pinch Zuko's nose. 

Zuko smiles and turns to Katara again, and she hugs him tightly. He can feel her smiling against his chest, and he smiles as well.

"Remember what we talked about earlier?" she whispers into his ear.

"Yeah."

She pulls away after kissing his nose. "See you."

"See you."

And with a few more rounds of hugging, pages and pages of recipes from Uncle Iroh shoved into his hands, watching them wave in the rearview mirror, Caldera becomes yet another distant dream of summer.

* * *

He doesn't open Katara's box until he gets home, and smiles when he discovers what's inside. A shell she'd found on the beach, a copy of his favorite book, and a dark blue sweatshirt. He pulls on the sweatshirt immediately with a smile, and reaches for the note at the bottom.

> _see you during christmas! and call every week. if you can. of course you can. i'm awesome—who wouldn't want to call me?_
> 
> _i love you. the ocean isn't the same without you._
> 
> _-katara_

Zuko smiles, his eyes burning. After letting a few tears fall, he grabs the book and opens it to the first page. And under the title, in Katara's neat handwriting, is yet another note. He reads it and smiles, closing the book and holding it to his chest as he eventually drifts off to sleep.

_the best stories never end._

_katara_


End file.
